1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to a cool air supplying device for a fresh food compartment in refrigerators and, more particularly, to a cool air supplying device capable of uniformly supplying cool air into the whole area inside a fresh food compartment and concentrically supplying cool air to an area around the door of the fresh food compartment, thus effectively cooling food newly stored in such an area.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In typical refrigerators with freezer and fresh food compartments, the refrigeration cycle is designed for starting to supply cool air into at least one of the two compartments when the sensed temperature of the compartment (freezer or fresh food compartment) is higher than a reference point. For example, when the temperature, sensed by a temperature sensor installed in the fresh food compartment, is higher than a reference point, for example, 3.degree. C., cool air is supplied into the fresh food compartment to cool the compartment. On the contrary, when the sensed temperature of the fresh food compartment is lower than the reference point, the supplying of new cool air for the fresh food compartment is stopped.
FIG. 1 is a front view showing the interior of a typical refrigerator with the doors of two compartments being opened. FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line A--A of FIG. 1, showing a cool air circulation inside the refrigerator.
As shown in the drawings, the interior of the typical refrigerator is divided into two compartments: freezer and fresh food compartments 10 and 20, by a barrier 15. The cool air supplying device for the above refrigerator is constructed as follows. That is, an evaporator 13 is provided in the heat exchanging chamber 12 formed behind the freezer compartment 10. Cool air from the evaporator 13 orderly flows to a shroud 16 and a grille fan 17, which are positioned in front of the chamber 10, by the suction force of a blower fan 14.
Some of cool air from the shroud 16 and the fan 17 is supplied into the freezer compartment 10. A remaining part of the cool air passes through a damper (not shown) prior to reaching a rear duct 22 which is arrayed on the rear wall of the fresh food compartment 20. The above damper is for controlling the amount of cool air for the fresh food compartment 20. The cool air is, thereafter, discharged from the duct 22 into the compartment 20 through a plurality of air outlet ports 22a, 22b and 22c of the duct 22.
A plurality of temperature sensors Sa and Sb are installed on the side and/or rear wall of the fresh food compartment 20 to sense the temperatures of said compartment 20 at different positions. The cool air supply for the fresh food compartment 20 is controlled in response to the temperatures of said compartment 20 sensed by the sensors Sa and Sb.
A plurality of door baskets 24a, 24b and 24c, used for storing food, are installed on the inside wall of the door 24 of the fresh food compartment 20.
However, the above cool air supplying device has the following problems. That is, since the door baskets 24a, 24b and 24c are spaced apart from the rear duct 22 at quite a distance, cool air from the duct 22 cannot effectively reach the door baskets 24a, 24b and 24c. In addition, the sensors Sa and Sb of the fresh food compartment 20 are installed on the side and/or rear wall of the fresh food compartment 20 as described above, so that the sensors Sa and Sb fail to exactly sense the temperatures around the door baskets 24a, 24b and 24c. Therefore, the above cool air supplying device may fail to supply cool air into the fresh food compartment 20 even when at least one of the temperatures around the door baskets 24a, 24b and 24c is higher than a reference point.
The typical cool air supplying device is thus problematic in that food, positioned around the rear duct 22, may be exceedingly cooled, while food, positioned around the door 24 of the fresh food compartment 20, may be not effectively cooled. That is, the above cool air supplying device fails to uniformly supply cool air to the whole area in the fresh food compartment.
Particularly, when the door 24 of the fresh food compartment 20 is repeatedly opened and closed, the door baskets 24a, 24b and 24c on the inside wall of the door 24 are exposed to hot atmospheric air. This causes the temperature around the baskets 24a, 24b and 24c to rise. It is thus difficult for such a cool air supplying device to maintain the freshness of food and drink in the baskets 24a, 24b and 24c for a lengthy period of time. In addition, when the door 24 is repeatedly opened and closed, hot atmospheric air is introduced into the fresh food compartment 20, so that the above refrigerator fails to maintain the freshness of food and drink, stored on the shelves 26 in the fresh food compartment 20 at a position around the door 24, for a lengthy period of time.
When food is newly stored in a specific area of the above door baskets 24a, 24b and 24c, the temperature around the area with the newly stored food rises higher than the other areas of the baskets 24a, 24b and 24c. However, the typical cooling air supply device is not designed for concentrically supplying cool air to the specific area with newly loaded food, so that it fails to effectively and quickly reduce the temperature around said area.